December 29, 2023 • 30 mins
When Harry Gordon Selfridge proclaimed "the customer is always right" over a century ago, he couldn't have imagined the lively debate it would spark on our show. My co-host, Nik Dawson, and I dissect this service industry commandment with a mix of storytelling and analysis. We take you behind the scenes of customer service, where the lines between respect, boundaries, and tough love are as intricate as the inner workings of a pool filter. From business owners to the corners of retail, our experiences shed light on why setting limits is as vital as the service itself. If you've ever questioned the delicate dance of customer interactions, you'll find camaraderie and enlightenment in our candid discussion.
Dealing with thorny pricing scenarios and tricky client relations is the bread and butter of many service industries. We dive into the deep end of valuation, customer confrontation, and the art of holding your ground, all while maintaining the grace of a swan on the water's surface. Hear our personal tales of clients who've pushed boundaries and how we've navigated the murky waters of late payments and discount demands without sinking. Whether you're wrestling with your own customer relations or simply crave an insider look at the service industry's dynamics, join us, Seth Mills and Nik Dawson, for an episode that's as refreshing as a plunge into a cool, clear pool.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Astrocraft grow, influence and
best podcast.
I'm your host, seth Mills,joining me today as your host,
your co-host, nick Dawson, andwe're gonna be discussing Some
various topics, but the main oneand the first that I'd like to
start off with is gonna be andthis is gonna trigger a lot Of
people the customer is notalways right.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, I forgot to look that up before we started
this did you okay?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
so basically, while he's looking it up, he was
telling me so that the customeris always right used to be
another company's slogan, andthen it took off like wildfire
Whenever other people startedseeing it and it just started
spreading.
And then that is where we're attoday, where everybody says the
customer is always right, whenin fact I'm not gonna say that
(00:46):
they're always wrong, becausethey're not, but they're also
not always right.
There's a happy middle groundin between being right and wrong
that, as a business owner, Ihave to understand and as a
customer, they have tounderstand.
Right.
I mean, I Don't know how youfeel on it you don't deal with
well, you do deal with customerson a daily basis, but you're
through a manufacturer.
I deal with customers and ifsomething's wrong Then it's
(01:10):
automatically my fault or one ofmy employees faults.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, yeah, I mean, but at the same time I Probably
deal with a lot more, with ohyou, you worked on my pool light
.
Now my heater doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, trying to blame you a little.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, it's like okay, well, I didn't have anything to
do with your heater, I camehere to fix a pool light.
Like Well, you need to comeback.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That'll be another charge.
Sorry, mm-hmm, yeah found itokay.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So A very common saying in customer service is
the customer is always right.
This well-known phrase wascoined by Harry Gordon Selfridge
in 1909.
Hmm, through some, oh so thecustomer's always been right
since 1909.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's scary.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, it was a, as the founder of Selfridge's
department store in London.
Self-re-or in London, selfridgeused this frame of mine to
convince patrons that they wouldhave an excellent customer
experience, as well as as toSimultaneously persuade
employees to provide highquality service.
Hmm, but he coined it, but nowwe use it all over the place in
(02:21):
the service side of Everythingthat we do not not even the
service side it's.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It's not even in just in the service side, it's
restaurants, it sales, sales,amazon, for instance.
I mean, if something goes wrongand and the customer orders the
wrong item but Amazon shipsthem what they ordered, it's
automatically Amazon's fault.
And that's just one Way oflooking at it as a service
provider for me and you and manyof us out there.
(02:45):
If, for instance, a customerasks me to clean their windows
but they have hardwater spots onthem which this actually
occurred with me yesterday IShow up and I start cleaning
their windows in my terms andconditions.
It explicitly says we do notclean hardwater stains Because
they could be permanently etchedin the glass.
Well, we perform the cleaningafter she signed the terms in
(03:09):
agreement and and we finish thecleaning.
Well, she gave us call backafter we left and said, hey,
there's hardwater spots.
I said it.
Unfortunately, that's anadditional service and we're
it's an upcharge, right.
So that was another Kind ofexample of where the customer
thinks they're always right, butif you read, it's not even fine
(03:30):
print.
It's in print like everythingelse on the estimate, but they
always think that they're right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And and well, and I mean just Something like that,
I'm sure you were able to tellher hey, we'll come back and
we'll do that, and and I did.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I offered, I said look, unfortunately it is not
included.
I said it is an additionalservice.
However, I looked up herprofile and her customer history
with us and she's a very andshe's an amazing customer.
So I said I will do this onetime free of charge for these
three windows.
But and let me preface this allby saying again, the customer
(04:06):
is not always wrong- no, itnever been, absolutely not
Countless amounts of times thatI've been wrong and I'm happy to
admit it.
I'm proud to admit that I makemistakes.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I've been in front of customers and I've been
blatantly wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, and then there's the customers if you're
wrong, right, say, one of us arewrong and they are right.
There's customers that once weacknowledge that we were wrong,
we've made a mistake, or even ifwe just offered to fix it,
whether or not we knew we wereright or wrong, that will
continue to push the subject.
So, if we say, oh, I'm so sorry,and we go about fixing whatever
(04:40):
or doing whatever they wereinquiring about, right, they'll
come up to you and continuehounding you for it.
Those are the customers thatI'm like.
Okay, if you're going to keepon doing this, I'll walk off the
job, issue you a refund andtake my employees and my
equipment and leave.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, you have that.
You have that option.
You can't get bullied.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You can't get bullied , but you don't have to take it
Exactly.
And so another thing, and I donot say this for part of my ego,
I'm not saying this for ego oranything but as a business owner
, you have to know when theproper time is to walk away.
And customers, if you are aservice provider right, like we
(05:20):
are or at least more so on myend some applications for you,
but more so on my end thecustomer needs to realize we can
drop them as a customer just asquickly as they can drop us as
a service provider.
I mean, we can do it like thatWalk away and say you're banned
from using our services or ourcompany and we will no longer
(05:41):
service you.
And a lot of customers now herein 2023, I think they've lost
that, the site of that.
They don't think that that isan option.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh, I do, I think everybody from.
I think everybody from 2019till now has had this whole
picture and this picture perfectthing of I can get what I want
and I can get it right now.
And everybody was pretty muchin the mindset of the customer
and the service provider werealways kind of like coinciding
with one another and you'dalways have that one off
customer.
But then it's almost like 2019hitting.
(06:12):
It was like there was like thisdividing line of my stuff and
my needs need to get done now.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, and I will agree with you on that.
But it's not just services,it's honestly the instantaneous
of like the intent,instantaneous service of like
Amazon or same day delivery thatruined it for even the service
industry.
It affected everybody.
So, but I also think in 2019,yes, customers started saying,
(06:44):
oh, I want it now, you can't getout here for two weeks, I'll go
with somebody else, which thenthe question of quality versus
speed comes in.
But I'll get to that here in alittle bit.
Whenever you in 2019, that'swhat I was going to say in 2019,
whenever that shift happened,there was also a shift within
(07:07):
the service providers, more so,closer to COVID 2020, 2021,
where service providers startedsaying, okay, there is an
abundance of customers that Ican service and I can do things
for.
I don't need this particularcustomer.
I can tell them that we're nolonger servicing them because
they've been a difficultcustomer since we picked them up
(07:27):
, however many years ago, whichI'm not going to say names, but
there's a few customers I willbe very polite and professional
about, but I will be droppinghere in 2024.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You have that ability .
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Am I going to play or am I going to take into
consideration their membershipwith us and all of their
customer profile?
Absolutely.
Am I also going to take intoconsideration the difficulty of
getting paid by these customers,the difficulty of not dealing
with but handling the situationswith these customers?
(08:07):
Am I going to take intoconsideration all of the
complaints with these particularclients that I have had none
with any of my other clients?
Absolutely, Some of theseclients I would like to not drop
.
However, I think as a big.
And then there's the topic of,as a business decision, you have
(08:28):
smart and not so smartmovements you can make.
Is the smart move getting ridof them or is the smart move
keeping them?
Because there's two sides to it.
Their money is just as good asanybody else's, but how many
problems are going to arise fromthese specific customers?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I think it's also a matter of looking into.
Okay, I can keep this one wayOne customer in an area say it's
outside of your scope of whereyou like to do your work, but
then you can also pick up threemore in your neighborhood or
somewhere closer to anothercustomer.
So instead of servicing one wayout here, you can service all
(09:06):
four of these over here on thesame day.
Kind of have to think about that.
In that aspect I had this sameconversation literally today
with a builder of mine.
They do a lot of pool cleaningand maintenance while they're
trying to pick up morecommercial work.
Commercial pools they're tryingto pick up.
They've got a plenty ofresidential but they're trying
to do commercial work.
(09:26):
You can't quote commercial thesame way as residential.
I know in your your industrytoo.
But for him he's like look,we've got a visit, we've got a
visit this community pool two tothree days a week.
You're in the summertime.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
It's still gonna be cheaper.
It's still well per square footor per gallon.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, you think of and I'll just throw some numbers
out there.
So you clean a residential poolfor $2,300.
We'll just keep it very broad.
Well, in order for it to makesense for me to be at a
community pool for two, threehours, instead of 15, 30 minutes
, that community pool that I'mgonna be there two, three hours,
(10:08):
two, three days a week, I haveto charge accordingly you do On
the spec, on the grand Scope ofthings, it's still gonna be a
little cheaper than you wouldcharge your residential, at
least by the gallon, because aResidential I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
From what I know about the pool industry working
at Leslie's for a little while,I know that pools are
residential.
Pools range from 15 to maybe30,000 gallons roughly in.
Usually the city limits youhave for sure, and so, and then
you've got Commercial pools thatrange from 80 to 130,000 easily
.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Easily depends.
Depends on where you live.
If you're an apartment,sometimes it might be 50,000 to
100,000, like I think mine's ahundred thousand something
gallons.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
So there's more volume, right?
Yeah, say you're it, and I'mjust throwing random numbers out
now.
10 cents a month per gallon, sosay it's 15,000 gallons, that's
a hundred fifty dollars a monthto maintain that pool, whereas
if it was a fifty thousanddollar commercial, you may be at
eight cents, which would bemore than a hundred fifty
(11:15):
dollars.
You're still gonna be makingmore on the commercial side, and
Correct me if I'm wrong,because I don't know how the
pool industry works.
I know that that's how it worksin my industry, with concrete
cleaning, for an example.
We charge anywhere from 15 to18 cents residential, but we
charge anywhere from eight centsto 12 cents commercial.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, the big difference is is on a
residential pool, you might havea family of, let's just say
four that are swimming We'lljust say, two days a week, and
that's Saturday, sunday, becausethat's when they're home or
Friday, saturday.
Then you talk about acommercial pool where there are
literally 50 plus peopleswimming in it every single day.
(11:55):
Yeah, you've got more cost onyour chemicals.
You've got more cost on you'rehaving to backwash filters all
the time.
You're having to document thesechemicals because, depending on
where you live, state laws andeverything applied to that,
there's a lot more that goesinto it.
But these community pools andthese other residential or not
(12:16):
residential, but these apartmentcomplexes or hotels or
everything else, they've gotmore money to be able to spend
to maintain that.
Yeah, if they're not maintainingit themselves.
So I've been to plenty ofapartments or hotels where they
maintain it themselves To savethat extra money.
And they just have theirmaintenance crew do it, but as
far as a pool professional.
(12:37):
Going out there and doing it.
You've got to make it worthyour time because you may have
some kid that Deficates in thepool more than a number one.
You've got to shut the pooldown and you've got to take the
proper precautions andrequirements for that.
That takes more time out ofyour day and it costs more money
.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
It would be, yeah, absolutely more money, because
it's hazard pay at that point soyou spend a lot more on the
commercial.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
But he's like, by the time I finished talking to him,
he was like half of what I wastelling him he needed to charge
and he was at half of what mostBig companies are charging.
So because he's not valuing it,he's valuing it like a
residential.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, he's doing the same pricing skill.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
But if you have an employee who's doing that.
You don't have enough.
You don't have enough money tobe able to be able to pay them.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Now you're having to dip out of other things to be
able to keep him going to keephim going on that and pay for
chemicals and pay for upkeep andgas, all the expenses,
insurance, everything.
Yeah, I can understand that andObviously, running a business
that way you're not gonna makemoney, you're gonna be bankrupt
before the end of the year.
(13:53):
So I do understand that and Ido Agree with that.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
What I'm saying pick your battles.
I Would never do anything onthe commercial side of swimming
pools.
I can do it, I know how to doit, I have the, the
certifications and everything todo so, but Not happening.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I'm trying to think so as far as the customer.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Or circle back my bad , my bad customer.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Not always being right is 100% a thing.
I Hate that America as a wholeand the world really Interpreted
that slogan from that onecompany I in 1909 and it's still
going over 115 In fact check meon that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
That was me telling you earlier, from me learning
about that, however long ago.
Feel free to fact check meeither now or later in another
Podcast, but for me I rememberhearing that and going, wow,
that was before I had a company.
I just thought it wasinteresting information.
So as soon as you we weretalking today and you were like
you have anything on the topicof the customer's always right,
(15:06):
it like clicked in my head and Iwas like, absolutely, I do.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Actually.
So fact check, you're wrong.
It was earlier than that, 1893,the Swiss hotel Caesar Ritz.
He was most famous for the RitzHotel in Paris and Carlton in
London.
Use the slogan it's in Franceor Italian.
(15:32):
I'm not gonna try and pronouncethat.
I would butcher that.
But it the customer is neverwrong as early as the 1990s or
1890s.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Wow, yeah, longer than that.
And yeah, and if you live or ifyou have a luxurious hotel,
absolutely, they're not wrong,you know.
Yeah if it comes to the pointto where it's like that, yeah,
they're not wrong, they'respending that kind of money to
stay in your hotel.
But you also got to rememberpeople are spending a certain
(16:03):
amount of money Working orhaving you work on their stuff.
Absolutely, are they wrong?
Can they be wrong?
Yes, do we always tell them no?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
and that's the other thing.
Yeah, I'm glad you brought thatup because I do want to touch
on that.
As a business owner, you haveto know, like you said earlier,
pick your battles.
You have to know when to defendyourself or your employees and
and telling the customer thatthey are wrong, and when to keep
your mouth shut and just sayyes sir, yes, ma'am, I Apologize
(16:34):
for the inconvenience and Iwill get it fixed or done, or
whatever the case may be,because you you don't want to
get a bad rap.
It is so easy for customers togo on Google, facebook, yahoo,
whatever other Platform, andgive you a one-star rating these
days and Google will do nothingabout it if you get a
(16:55):
fraudulent One-star rating,because I know several people
who it's happened to.
They get like five one-starratings from just fake accounts.
One of them was Yoda.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Gave it, this dude, a review.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
One-star review, google wouldn't remove it.
Google would not help thecustomer.
In that sense has more powerThan the, the business owner as
far as that goes, even ifthere's no record of of you
working with the customer really.
Unfortunately.
So going from the customer isNot always right and again I'm
(17:40):
gonna get so much hate for forsaying that or even bringing
that up and then circling backto the being bullied by
customers.
You need to know when to pressyour issue about getting paid
right.
So I've had I sent out seveninvoices.
Because we do Christmas lightinstalls, I sent out seven or
(18:02):
nine invoices.
Because the first year for mycustomers is typically free
uninstallation, I Sent out sevenor nine, maybe 15.
I don't know how many.
It was a certain amount of rightvoices last week, three
customers Did not pay, and keepin mind these three customers
(18:23):
had to pay the, or two of thethree customers had to pay the
fee Last year, which again wassent out ahead of time because
we always send it out before wego take down the lights Is a
Christmas light, an installationfee.
Well, one of the customers as amatter of fact I will Not gonna
(18:43):
say names, no, I'm sure helistens to my podcast and so, if
you do, I'm not no hate.
I will preface this by sayingthat it's just an example that
I'm gonna give.
I Sent him a text.
I said hey, I Just sent overyour, your uninstall fee, same
as last year.
Then he said what is this?
(19:04):
Is this auto text stuff?
Meaning, is this like a robotsending me an automatic text?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I said the last text was a personal text to you.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
The 125 is the same fee we charge every year,
including what we charge youlast last year, which again we
sent it out prior to uninstalllast year as well.
He said he will pay it when hegets home.
I said, okay, cool, perfect.
And then a couple days went by.
My system automatically startscharging through my account.
(19:30):
Then I said through my accountthen automatically starts
charging late fees after thethird day of not being paid.
Well, it started charging him.
So I just take a text and Isaid I just waived the late fee.
It charged you after today.
I'm not sure my account will ormy account and service will.
Let me do it again, just addsup.
Then he replies and this goesback to the being bullied by
(19:53):
customers hey man, I'm justtelling you, if you charge me a
late fee for something thatisn't being done for probably
and then I think he meant forprobably Two weeks or something
All I said was that isn't beingdone for probably, I can assure
you you won't be doing them.
You should tell your accountantto.
You should tell your accountantto that.
That's not how business works.
I've got a great accountant ifyou need somebody that wants to
(20:15):
help you grow your business andnot piss people off.
It has nothing to do with themoney.
You should really figure outthe process as far as not
charging people until the workis done.
Not trying to be a dick, but sohe said that right, and I'm I'm
over here.
We did the same thing last year.
We charged him and then andthen his solution.
(20:36):
His solution to this is Tocharge him for install and
uninstall Up front whenever weinstall the lights, rather than
Waiting till a week before weuninstall the lights two weeks,
whatever to charge him the 125Fee because it's 125 uninstall.
(20:57):
His solution was Charge mewhenever you come in install the
lights.
Is that not the same Concept?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
because yeah, I think it could be the same concept.
I mean, I guess it's just amatter, but it's not his company
.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Well, for one, it's not his company and two, he's
griping and complaining, which,okay, please do if you have an
issue.
He's complaining about meCharging him the 125 dollar fee
for uninstall without the lightsbeing uninstalled, and then he
his solution is it charge me theuninstall fee when you put them
up the it.
(21:33):
His exact words were why don'tyou just charge it up front and
put up and say that this is fortakedown as well?
Then you're done.
That includes put up andtakedown.
Easy.
Smack the mic there a littlebit, but I Mean I again, you
could do it either way.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I can understand what he's saying, but I understand
what you're saying to you at theend of the day and cheer
company.
But you could charge him thatin full.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
But it's either that or he can take down the lights
himself see, and and it's notthe first time that I've and the
other several times that I'vehad an issue with his house had
I will be 100% honest.
They've been an issue becauseone of my suppliers didn't send
(22:26):
me the right stuff, or my guysdidn't pick up, or I didn't pick
up, because I never blameanything on my employees I
didn't pick up this stuff out ofstorage and so and I and I
didn't make sure it was in thetruck, so that was on me.
But I've had countless amountsof issues with this one one
house, and it's only this onehouse.
So I don't know how I'm gonnaproceed.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
But Well, and again, I guess it goes back to your
terms and conditions.
If it's in your terms andconditions that hey, there's a
later fee that of $125 to cometake down your lights, I Guess
at that point they could eitherread it and then give you a
check for $125 at a later dateYep, be done with it, or I don't
(23:12):
know.
There's so many different waysI feel like you could approach
that.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
No, absolutely.
And then so we run asubscription service for window
cleaning and all of thatinformation or all of that stuff
, right.
So you pay a yearly fee and youget four cleanings.
It's typically if you pay forthe year in advance, you get 25%
off.
So you essentially pay forthree cleanings and you get the
fourth one free.
Yeah one of my clients is onthat.
One of that.
(23:35):
That client also seems alsohappens to do Christmas lights
through us.
So I text her and I Just saidhey, if you need me to extend
the invoice because it was aboutto start charging late fees, if
you need me to extend theinvoice a few days, I can Give
with my team, excuse me and havethem do it.
I just don't want you to startgetting charged late fees.
(23:57):
After this evening they willstart occurring late fees.
Smiley face Love the smileyemoji.
Use it every day.
Then she said listen, I alwayspay in advance and shouldn't.
I'll pay when the lights aredown, immediately.
You shouldn't pay in advancebecause you're paying.
(24:17):
The only thing she's ever paidin advance for Was the window
cleaning service and then we rana black Friday sale to where
you could renew your service Twocleanings in advance.
So halfway through your youroriginal start a contract.
You could renew it for anadditional discount off of the
25% if you renewed it foranother year.
And she did that.
(24:38):
I'm not forcing the customer todo it, I'm just keeping them
because I send out a mass textsaying, hey, we have a sale
going on and and we're going tobe giving an additional sale
right.
So it's not like I'm forcingher to subscribe no to any of
the services, and it's that thattext seemed like it was, so I
(25:01):
don't know.
This all ties back into gettingpaid from your clients, because
neither of them sent me and andsent me the Payment yet.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Well, what are you?
Do you have them on like a doon receipt net 15, net 30?
What is your?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
everything that runs through my company, unless it is
a commercial, is do on receipt.
Unless it's through twocompanies that I do commercial
work for, it is a net 15.
I got you which that will bebeing terminated here very soon
the Net 15.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I don't blame you through my company anyway.
I mean for me like whenever Ifirst started the Costa boys,
whenever I first started thecompany I was like scrounging
for work right, struggling,trying to find it because I
wasn't doing anything for themanufacturer I work for now and
(26:00):
I had one guy that was verygracious to give me everything I
needed to get started, gave methe parts I needed, gave me the
exact invoice that he gave, butI didn't have to buy anything.
He just was like here.
And so by the time I got tothis house, which is in the
middle of freaking Houston nowwe're away from where I live and
(26:24):
I get down there and there'scomplications I ended up going
down there like four times andone man operation made it a pain
.
But she was like oh well, isthere any way I can get a
discount on this?
Well, at that point again, Iwas like I was already feeling
(26:44):
good because I was like oh well,yeah, you know, I just got this
job landed for free in thefirst week of me having the
company, why not?
Well, by the time my accountantand everybody had sent the
information to the homeowner,the homeowner basically was like
I'm not paying this until youdrop the price down to what we
(27:05):
discussed.
And it was this whole debacleof okay, well, you could just
put custom pay and pay me whatwe said and I'll just waive the
rest of it.
But it got to the point whereand I didn't know how quick
books worked, I didn't take anyclasses, I didn't know how any
of that stuff worked.
I had to make phone calls andfigure it all out, come to find
(27:27):
out it's a lot easier than I wasmaking it, but I was freaking
out and so as soon as I changedit still took her a week to
freaking pay me.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Really.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And then, after I fixed everything, she calls me
two times in a row big pet peeveof mine.
Calls me two times around andthen texts me and tells me one
of her lights is out again.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
She's out of warranty , though, so Sorry, it's gonna
be an additional charge.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
So hey, there's a great pool supply company about
11 minutes away from your house.
We don't service that far downsouth anymore, Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
See, and that's it.
All ties back into knowing whenyou need to get paid and also
knowing when not to get bulliedby your clients.
So I mean and that's what Ireally wanted to make this
episode about was being bulliedby your clients and collecting
money as well as the customer'snot always right, because they
(28:27):
as much as hate as I'm gonna getfor it.
The customer is not alwaysright.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
They've got some right in them.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
They do, but it they might be right 50%, maybe 70,
maybe, maybe 70, maybe, butthey're not always right.
No, there's that good you as aprofessional have to be the
professional and you have todecide what's right and what's
not for the job that you'redoing and you also have to, as a
(28:57):
professional, know when tostand your ground and would not
do, because you can get intosome deep shit, oh yeah.
So I mean I don't know.
And again, going back to thetopic about getting paid from my
clients, these two clients, Imean yeah, they're great clients
.
At least one of them is, andshe's I mean she's always been
(29:20):
super sweet, except for now.
So I don't know if I justcaught it on, and that's the
other thing you have to know.
If you're gonna catch somebodyon a bad day, you have to give
them a couple of extra days toget over, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And then reach out again or just leave it be.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Because they might be going through something.
Family might be going throughsomething.
You're gonna know, everybody'sgonna be going through something
in their own way.
Unfortunately, we don't alwaysget that same privilege.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Oh, and I know all about that right now.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Hell, me too.
Yeah, I don't have a place tolive except for my folks place
right now.
Yup.
So that same day that they werelike yep, nope which I gotta be
careful what I say about thatbut whenever it was like, yeah,
you can't, I wouldn't go back inthere right now, it was like
when am I?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
supposed to go?
Where am I supposed to go?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
But then I have to be like hello, this is Nick, this
is Nick.
Oh no, absolutely, we can getthat fixed for you today.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I have to go right back to it and then just put
that on the back burner till.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Till you're alone, yeah, so, yeah.
Well, thank you guys for tuningin to the Astro Craft Grow
Influence Invest podcast.
I'm your host, seth Mills, andyour co-host, Nick Dowson.
And we will see you guys in thenext episode.
Have a Merry Christmas and ahappy new year.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Happy Hanukkah.
Welcome back to the Astrocraft grow, influence and
best podcast.
I'm your host, seth Mills,joining me today as your host,
your co-host, nick Dawson, andwe're gonna be discussing Some
various topics, but the main oneand the first that I'd like to
start off with is gonna be andthis is gonna trigger a lot Of
people the customer is notalways right.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, I forgot to look that up before we started
this did you okay?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
so basically, while he's looking it up, he was
telling me so that the customeris always right used to be
another company's slogan, andthen it took off like wildfire
Whenever other people startedseeing it and it just started
spreading.
And then that is where we're attoday, where everybody says the
customer is always right, whenin fact I'm not gonna say that
(00:46):
they're always wrong, becausethey're not, but they're also
not always right.
There's a happy middle groundin between being right and wrong
that, as a business owner, Ihave to understand and as a
customer, they have tounderstand.
Right.
I mean, I Don't know how youfeel on it you don't deal with
well, you do deal with customerson a daily basis, but you're
through a manufacturer.
I deal with customers and ifsomething's wrong Then it's
(01:10):
automatically my fault or one ofmy employees faults.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, yeah, I mean, but at the same time I Probably
deal with a lot more, with ohyou, you worked on my pool light
.
Now my heater doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, trying to blame you a little.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, it's like okay, well, I didn't have anything to
do with your heater, I camehere to fix a pool light.
Like Well, you need to comeback.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That'll be another charge.
Sorry, mm-hmm, yeah found itokay.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So A very common saying in customer service is
the customer is always right.
This well-known phrase wascoined by Harry Gordon Selfridge
in 1909.
Hmm, through some, oh so thecustomer's always been right
since 1909.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's scary.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, it was a, as the founder of Selfridge's
department store in London.
Self-re-or in London, selfridgeused this frame of mine to
convince patrons that they wouldhave an excellent customer
experience, as well as as toSimultaneously persuade
employees to provide highquality service.
Hmm, but he coined it, but nowwe use it all over the place in
(02:21):
the service side of Everythingthat we do not not even the
service side it's.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It's not even in just in the service side, it's
restaurants, it sales, sales,amazon, for instance.
I mean, if something goes wrongand and the customer orders the
wrong item but Amazon shipsthem what they ordered, it's
automatically Amazon's fault.
And that's just one Way oflooking at it as a service
provider for me and you and manyof us out there.
(02:45):
If, for instance, a customerasks me to clean their windows
but they have hardwater spots onthem which this actually
occurred with me yesterday IShow up and I start cleaning
their windows in my terms andconditions.
It explicitly says we do notclean hardwater stains Because
they could be permanently etchedin the glass.
Well, we perform the cleaningafter she signed the terms in
(03:09):
agreement and and we finish thecleaning.
Well, she gave us call backafter we left and said, hey,
there's hardwater spots.
I said it.
Unfortunately, that's anadditional service and we're
it's an upcharge, right.
So that was another Kind ofexample of where the customer
thinks they're always right, butif you read, it's not even fine
(03:30):
print.
It's in print like everythingelse on the estimate, but they
always think that they're right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And and well, and I mean just Something like that,
I'm sure you were able to tellher hey, we'll come back and
we'll do that, and and I did.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I offered, I said look, unfortunately it is not
included.
I said it is an additionalservice.
However, I looked up herprofile and her customer history
with us and she's a very andshe's an amazing customer.
So I said I will do this onetime free of charge for these
three windows.
But and let me preface this allby saying again, the customer
(04:06):
is not always wrong- no, itnever been, absolutely not
Countless amounts of times thatI've been wrong and I'm happy to
admit it.
I'm proud to admit that I makemistakes.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I've been in front of customers and I've been
blatantly wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, and then there's the customers if you're
wrong, right, say, one of us arewrong and they are right.
There's customers that once weacknowledge that we were wrong,
we've made a mistake, or even ifwe just offered to fix it,
whether or not we knew we wereright or wrong, that will
continue to push the subject.
So, if we say, oh, I'm so sorry,and we go about fixing whatever
(04:40):
or doing whatever they wereinquiring about, right, they'll
come up to you and continuehounding you for it.
Those are the customers thatI'm like.
Okay, if you're going to keepon doing this, I'll walk off the
job, issue you a refund andtake my employees and my
equipment and leave.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, you have that.
You have that option.
You can't get bullied.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You can't get bullied , but you don't have to take it
Exactly.
And so another thing, and I donot say this for part of my ego,
I'm not saying this for ego oranything but as a business owner
, you have to know when theproper time is to walk away.
And customers, if you are aservice provider right, like we
(05:20):
are or at least more so on myend some applications for you,
but more so on my end thecustomer needs to realize we can
drop them as a customer just asquickly as they can drop us as
a service provider.
I mean, we can do it like thatWalk away and say you're banned
from using our services or ourcompany and we will no longer
(05:41):
service you.
And a lot of customers now herein 2023, I think they've lost
that, the site of that.
They don't think that that isan option.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh, I do, I think everybody from.
I think everybody from 2019till now has had this whole
picture and this picture perfectthing of I can get what I want
and I can get it right now.
And everybody was pretty muchin the mindset of the customer
and the service provider werealways kind of like coinciding
with one another and you'dalways have that one off
customer.
But then it's almost like 2019hitting.
(06:12):
It was like there was like thisdividing line of my stuff and
my needs need to get done now.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, and I will agree with you on that.
But it's not just services,it's honestly the instantaneous
of like the intent,instantaneous service of like
Amazon or same day delivery thatruined it for even the service
industry.
It affected everybody.
So, but I also think in 2019,yes, customers started saying,
(06:44):
oh, I want it now, you can't getout here for two weeks, I'll go
with somebody else, which thenthe question of quality versus
speed comes in.
But I'll get to that here in alittle bit.
Whenever you in 2019, that'swhat I was going to say in 2019,
whenever that shift happened,there was also a shift within
(07:07):
the service providers, more so,closer to COVID 2020, 2021,
where service providers startedsaying, okay, there is an
abundance of customers that Ican service and I can do things
for.
I don't need this particularcustomer.
I can tell them that we're nolonger servicing them because
they've been a difficultcustomer since we picked them up
(07:27):
, however many years ago, whichI'm not going to say names, but
there's a few customers I willbe very polite and professional
about, but I will be droppinghere in 2024.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You have that ability .
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Am I going to play or am I going to take into
consideration their membershipwith us and all of their
customer profile?
Absolutely.
Am I also going to take intoconsideration the difficulty of
getting paid by these customers,the difficulty of not dealing
with but handling the situationswith these customers?
(08:07):
Am I going to take intoconsideration all of the
complaints with these particularclients that I have had none
with any of my other clients?
Absolutely, Some of theseclients I would like to not drop
.
However, I think as a big.
And then there's the topic of,as a business decision, you have
(08:28):
smart and not so smartmovements you can make.
Is the smart move getting ridof them or is the smart move
keeping them?
Because there's two sides to it.
Their money is just as good asanybody else's, but how many
problems are going to arise fromthese specific customers?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I think it's also a matter of looking into.
Okay, I can keep this one wayOne customer in an area say it's
outside of your scope of whereyou like to do your work, but
then you can also pick up threemore in your neighborhood or
somewhere closer to anothercustomer.
So instead of servicing one wayout here, you can service all
(09:06):
four of these over here on thesame day.
Kind of have to think about that.
In that aspect I had this sameconversation literally today
with a builder of mine.
They do a lot of pool cleaningand maintenance while they're
trying to pick up morecommercial work.
Commercial pools they're tryingto pick up.
They've got a plenty ofresidential but they're trying
to do commercial work.
(09:26):
You can't quote commercial thesame way as residential.
I know in your your industrytoo.
But for him he's like look,we've got a visit, we've got a
visit this community pool two tothree days a week.
You're in the summertime.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
It's still gonna be cheaper.
It's still well per square footor per gallon.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, you think of and I'll just throw some numbers
out there.
So you clean a residential poolfor $2,300.
We'll just keep it very broad.
Well, in order for it to makesense for me to be at a
community pool for two, threehours, instead of 15, 30 minutes
, that community pool that I'mgonna be there two, three hours,
(10:08):
two, three days a week, I haveto charge accordingly you do On
the spec, on the grand Scope ofthings, it's still gonna be a
little cheaper than you wouldcharge your residential, at
least by the gallon, because aResidential I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
From what I know about the pool industry working
at Leslie's for a little while,I know that pools are
residential.
Pools range from 15 to maybe30,000 gallons roughly in.
Usually the city limits youhave for sure, and so, and then
you've got Commercial pools thatrange from 80 to 130,000 easily
.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Easily depends.
Depends on where you live.
If you're an apartment,sometimes it might be 50,000 to
100,000, like I think mine's ahundred thousand something
gallons.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
So there's more volume, right?
Yeah, say you're it, and I'mjust throwing random numbers out
now.
10 cents a month per gallon, sosay it's 15,000 gallons, that's
a hundred fifty dollars a monthto maintain that pool, whereas
if it was a fifty thousanddollar commercial, you may be at
eight cents, which would bemore than a hundred fifty
(11:15):
dollars.
You're still gonna be makingmore on the commercial side, and
Correct me if I'm wrong,because I don't know how the
pool industry works.
I know that that's how it worksin my industry, with concrete
cleaning, for an example.
We charge anywhere from 15 to18 cents residential, but we
charge anywhere from eight centsto 12 cents commercial.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, the big difference is is on a
residential pool, you might havea family of, let's just say
four that are swimming We'lljust say, two days a week, and
that's Saturday, sunday, becausethat's when they're home or
Friday, saturday.
Then you talk about acommercial pool where there are
literally 50 plus peopleswimming in it every single day.
(11:55):
Yeah, you've got more cost onyour chemicals.
You've got more cost on you'rehaving to backwash filters all
the time.
You're having to document thesechemicals because, depending on
where you live, state laws andeverything applied to that,
there's a lot more that goesinto it.
But these community pools andthese other residential or not
(12:16):
residential, but these apartmentcomplexes or hotels or
everything else, they've gotmore money to be able to spend
to maintain that.
Yeah, if they're not maintainingit themselves.
So I've been to plenty ofapartments or hotels where they
maintain it themselves To savethat extra money.
And they just have theirmaintenance crew do it, but as
far as a pool professional.
(12:37):
Going out there and doing it.
You've got to make it worthyour time because you may have
some kid that Deficates in thepool more than a number one.
You've got to shut the pooldown and you've got to take the
proper precautions andrequirements for that.
That takes more time out ofyour day and it costs more money
.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
It would be, yeah, absolutely more money, because
it's hazard pay at that point soyou spend a lot more on the
commercial.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
But he's like, by the time I finished talking to him,
he was like half of what I wastelling him he needed to charge
and he was at half of what mostBig companies are charging.
So because he's not valuing it,he's valuing it like a
residential.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, he's doing the same pricing skill.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
But if you have an employee who's doing that.
You don't have enough.
You don't have enough money tobe able to be able to pay them.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Now you're having to dip out of other things to be
able to keep him going to keephim going on that and pay for
chemicals and pay for upkeep andgas, all the expenses,
insurance, everything.
Yeah, I can understand that andObviously, running a business
that way you're not gonna makemoney, you're gonna be bankrupt
before the end of the year.
(13:53):
So I do understand that and Ido Agree with that.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
What I'm saying pick your battles.
I Would never do anything onthe commercial side of swimming
pools.
I can do it, I know how to doit, I have the, the
certifications and everything todo so, but Not happening.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I'm trying to think so as far as the customer.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Or circle back my bad , my bad customer.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Not always being right is 100% a thing.
I Hate that America as a wholeand the world really Interpreted
that slogan from that onecompany I in 1909 and it's still
going over 115 In fact check meon that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
That was me telling you earlier, from me learning
about that, however long ago.
Feel free to fact check meeither now or later in another
Podcast, but for me I rememberhearing that and going, wow,
that was before I had a company.
I just thought it wasinteresting information.
So as soon as you we weretalking today and you were like
you have anything on the topicof the customer's always right,
(15:06):
it like clicked in my head and Iwas like, absolutely, I do.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Actually.
So fact check, you're wrong.
It was earlier than that, 1893,the Swiss hotel Caesar Ritz.
He was most famous for the RitzHotel in Paris and Carlton in
London.
Use the slogan it's in Franceor Italian.
(15:32):
I'm not gonna try and pronouncethat.
I would butcher that.
But it the customer is neverwrong as early as the 1990s or
1890s.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Wow, yeah, longer than that.
And yeah, and if you live or ifyou have a luxurious hotel,
absolutely, they're not wrong,you know.
Yeah if it comes to the pointto where it's like that, yeah,
they're not wrong, they'respending that kind of money to
stay in your hotel.
But you also got to rememberpeople are spending a certain
(16:03):
amount of money Working orhaving you work on their stuff.
Absolutely, are they wrong?
Can they be wrong?
Yes, do we always tell them no?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
and that's the other thing.
Yeah, I'm glad you brought thatup because I do want to touch
on that.
As a business owner, you haveto know, like you said earlier,
pick your battles.
You have to know when to defendyourself or your employees and
and telling the customer thatthey are wrong, and when to keep
your mouth shut and just sayyes sir, yes, ma'am, I Apologize
(16:34):
for the inconvenience and Iwill get it fixed or done, or
whatever the case may be,because you you don't want to
get a bad rap.
It is so easy for customers togo on Google, facebook, yahoo,
whatever other Platform, andgive you a one-star rating these
days and Google will do nothingabout it if you get a
(16:55):
fraudulent One-star rating,because I know several people
who it's happened to.
They get like five one-starratings from just fake accounts.
One of them was Yoda.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Gave it, this dude, a review.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
One-star review, google wouldn't remove it.
Google would not help thecustomer.
In that sense has more powerThan the, the business owner as
far as that goes, even ifthere's no record of of you
working with the customer really.
Unfortunately.
So going from the customer isNot always right and again I'm
(17:40):
gonna get so much hate for forsaying that or even bringing
that up and then circling backto the being bullied by
customers.
You need to know when to pressyour issue about getting paid
right.
So I've had I sent out seveninvoices.
Because we do Christmas lightinstalls, I sent out seven or
(18:02):
nine invoices.
Because the first year for mycustomers is typically free
uninstallation, I Sent out sevenor nine, maybe 15.
I don't know how many.
It was a certain amount of rightvoices last week, three
customers Did not pay, and keepin mind these three customers
(18:23):
had to pay the, or two of thethree customers had to pay the
fee Last year, which again wassent out ahead of time because
we always send it out before wego take down the lights Is a
Christmas light, an installationfee.
Well, one of the customers as amatter of fact I will Not gonna
(18:43):
say names, no, I'm sure helistens to my podcast and so, if
you do, I'm not no hate.
I will preface this by sayingthat it's just an example that
I'm gonna give.
I Sent him a text.
I said hey, I Just sent overyour, your uninstall fee, same
as last year.
Then he said what is this?
(19:04):
Is this auto text stuff?
Meaning, is this like a robotsending me an automatic text?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I said the last text was a personal text to you.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
The 125 is the same fee we charge every year,
including what we charge youlast last year, which again we
sent it out prior to uninstalllast year as well.
He said he will pay it when hegets home.
I said, okay, cool, perfect.
And then a couple days went by.
My system automatically startscharging through my account.
(19:30):
Then I said through my accountthen automatically starts
charging late fees after thethird day of not being paid.
Well, it started charging him.
So I just take a text and Isaid I just waived the late fee.
It charged you after today.
I'm not sure my account will ormy account and service will.
Let me do it again, just addsup.
Then he replies and this goesback to the being bullied by
(19:53):
customers hey man, I'm justtelling you, if you charge me a
late fee for something thatisn't being done for probably
and then I think he meant forprobably Two weeks or something
All I said was that isn't beingdone for probably, I can assure
you you won't be doing them.
You should tell your accountantto.
You should tell your accountantto that.
That's not how business works.
I've got a great accountant ifyou need somebody that wants to
(20:15):
help you grow your business andnot piss people off.
It has nothing to do with themoney.
You should really figure outthe process as far as not
charging people until the workis done.
Not trying to be a dick, but sohe said that right, and I'm I'm
over here.
We did the same thing last year.
We charged him and then andthen his solution.
(20:36):
His solution to this is Tocharge him for install and
uninstall Up front whenever weinstall the lights, rather than
Waiting till a week before weuninstall the lights two weeks,
whatever to charge him the 125Fee because it's 125 uninstall.
(20:57):
His solution was Charge mewhenever you come in install the
lights.
Is that not the same Concept?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
because yeah, I think it could be the same concept.
I mean, I guess it's just amatter, but it's not his company
.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Well, for one, it's not his company and two, he's
griping and complaining, which,okay, please do if you have an
issue.
He's complaining about meCharging him the 125 dollar fee
for uninstall without the lightsbeing uninstalled, and then he
his solution is it charge me theuninstall fee when you put them
up the it.
(21:33):
His exact words were why don'tyou just charge it up front and
put up and say that this is fortakedown as well?
Then you're done.
That includes put up andtakedown.
Easy.
Smack the mic there a littlebit, but I Mean I again, you
could do it either way.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I can understand what he's saying, but I understand
what you're saying to you at theend of the day and cheer
company.
But you could charge him thatin full.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
But it's either that or he can take down the lights
himself see, and and it's notthe first time that I've and the
other several times that I'vehad an issue with his house had
I will be 100% honest.
They've been an issue becauseone of my suppliers didn't send
(22:26):
me the right stuff, or my guysdidn't pick up, or I didn't pick
up, because I never blameanything on my employees I
didn't pick up this stuff out ofstorage and so and I and I
didn't make sure it was in thetruck, so that was on me.
But I've had countless amountsof issues with this one one
house, and it's only this onehouse.
So I don't know how I'm gonnaproceed.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
But Well, and again, I guess it goes back to your
terms and conditions.
If it's in your terms andconditions that hey, there's a
later fee that of $125 to cometake down your lights, I Guess
at that point they could eitherread it and then give you a
check for $125 at a later dateYep, be done with it, or I don't
(23:12):
know.
There's so many different waysI feel like you could approach
that.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
No, absolutely.
And then so we run asubscription service for window
cleaning and all of thatinformation or all of that stuff
, right.
So you pay a yearly fee and youget four cleanings.
It's typically if you pay forthe year in advance, you get 25%
off.
So you essentially pay forthree cleanings and you get the
fourth one free.
Yeah one of my clients is onthat.
One of that.
(23:35):
That client also seems alsohappens to do Christmas lights
through us.
So I text her and I Just saidhey, if you need me to extend
the invoice because it was aboutto start charging late fees, if
you need me to extend theinvoice a few days, I can Give
with my team, excuse me and havethem do it.
I just don't want you to startgetting charged late fees.
(23:57):
After this evening they willstart occurring late fees.
Smiley face Love the smileyemoji.
Use it every day.
Then she said listen, I alwayspay in advance and shouldn't.
I'll pay when the lights aredown, immediately.
You shouldn't pay in advancebecause you're paying.
(24:17):
The only thing she's ever paidin advance for Was the window
cleaning service and then we rana black Friday sale to where
you could renew your service Twocleanings in advance.
So halfway through your youroriginal start a contract.
You could renew it for anadditional discount off of the
25% if you renewed it foranother year.
And she did that.
(24:38):
I'm not forcing the customer todo it, I'm just keeping them
because I send out a mass textsaying, hey, we have a sale
going on and and we're going tobe giving an additional sale
right.
So it's not like I'm forcingher to subscribe no to any of
the services, and it's that thattext seemed like it was, so I
(25:01):
don't know.
This all ties back into gettingpaid from your clients, because
neither of them sent me and andsent me the Payment yet.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Well, what are you?
Do you have them on like a doon receipt net 15, net 30?
What is your?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
everything that runs through my company, unless it is
a commercial, is do on receipt.
Unless it's through twocompanies that I do commercial
work for, it is a net 15.
I got you which that will bebeing terminated here very soon
the Net 15.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I don't blame you through my company anyway.
I mean for me like whenever Ifirst started the Costa boys,
whenever I first started thecompany I was like scrounging
for work right, struggling,trying to find it because I
wasn't doing anything for themanufacturer I work for now and
(26:00):
I had one guy that was verygracious to give me everything I
needed to get started, gave methe parts I needed, gave me the
exact invoice that he gave, butI didn't have to buy anything.
He just was like here.
And so by the time I got tothis house, which is in the
middle of freaking Houston nowwe're away from where I live and
(26:24):
I get down there and there'scomplications I ended up going
down there like four times andone man operation made it a pain
.
But she was like oh well, isthere any way I can get a
discount on this?
Well, at that point again, Iwas like I was already feeling
(26:44):
good because I was like oh well,yeah, you know, I just got this
job landed for free in thefirst week of me having the
company, why not?
Well, by the time my accountantand everybody had sent the
information to the homeowner,the homeowner basically was like
I'm not paying this until youdrop the price down to what we
(27:05):
discussed.
And it was this whole debacleof okay, well, you could just
put custom pay and pay me whatwe said and I'll just waive the
rest of it.
But it got to the point whereand I didn't know how quick
books worked, I didn't take anyclasses, I didn't know how any
of that stuff worked.
I had to make phone calls andfigure it all out, come to find
(27:27):
out it's a lot easier than I wasmaking it, but I was freaking
out and so as soon as I changedit still took her a week to
freaking pay me.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Really.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And then, after I fixed everything, she calls me
two times in a row big pet peeveof mine.
Calls me two times around andthen texts me and tells me one
of her lights is out again.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
She's out of warranty , though, so Sorry, it's gonna
be an additional charge.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
So hey, there's a great pool supply company about
11 minutes away from your house.
We don't service that far downsouth anymore, Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
See, and that's it.
All ties back into knowing whenyou need to get paid and also
knowing when not to get bulliedby your clients.
So I mean and that's what Ireally wanted to make this
episode about was being bulliedby your clients and collecting
money as well as the customer'snot always right, because they
(28:27):
as much as hate as I'm gonna getfor it.
The customer is not alwaysright.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
They've got some right in them.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
They do, but it they might be right 50%, maybe 70,
maybe, maybe 70, maybe, butthey're not always right.
No, there's that good you as aprofessional have to be the
professional and you have todecide what's right and what's
not for the job that you'redoing and you also have to, as a
(28:57):
professional, know when tostand your ground and would not
do, because you can get intosome deep shit, oh yeah.
So I mean I don't know.
And again, going back to thetopic about getting paid from my
clients, these two clients, Imean yeah, they're great clients
.
At least one of them is, andshe's I mean she's always been
(29:20):
super sweet, except for now.
So I don't know if I justcaught it on, and that's the
other thing you have to know.
If you're gonna catch somebodyon a bad day, you have to give
them a couple of extra days toget over, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And then reach out again or just leave it be.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Because they might be going through something.
Family might be going throughsomething.
You're gonna know, everybody'sgonna be going through something
in their own way.
Unfortunately, we don't alwaysget that same privilege.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Oh, and I know all about that right now.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Hell, me too.
Yeah, I don't have a place tolive except for my folks place
right now.
Yup.
So that same day that they werelike yep, nope which I gotta be
careful what I say about thatbut whenever it was like, yeah,
you can't, I wouldn't go back inthere right now, it was like
when am I?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
supposed to go?
Where am I supposed to go?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
But then I have to be like hello, this is Nick, this
is Nick.
Oh no, absolutely, we can getthat fixed for you today.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I have to go right back to it and then just put
that on the back burner till.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Till you're alone, yeah, so, yeah.
Well, thank you guys for tuningin to the Astro Craft Grow
Influence Invest podcast.
I'm your host, seth Mills, andyour co-host, Nick Dowson.
And we will see you guys in thenext episode.
Have a Merry Christmas and ahappy new year.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Happy Hanukkah.
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